On the 30th of July 1946 , a truly epochal change of great significance took place in the northern half of Korea , People’s Korea ; the Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea enacted the Law on Sexual Equality as part of the wide ranging programme of democratic reforms of the anti-imperialist ,anti-feudal democratic revolution which was carried out after Korea’s liberation from Japanese imperialist colonial rule in August 1945 . President KIM IL SUNG had first put forward the idea of making women equal with men in the days of the Anti-Japanese armed struggle .In THE TEN-POINT PROGRAMME OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE FATHERLAND published on the 5th of May 1936 point 7 stated ‘To abolish the caste system which divides the ryangban (nobles) and the common people, and other inequalities; to ensure equality based on humanity irrespective of sex, nationality or religion; to improve the social position of women and respect their personalities;’
. The Law on Sexual Equality of People’s Korea freed women from centuries upon centuries of double and treble feudal oppression . It was a profoundly revolutionary measure which changed the lives of Korean women forever .
The Law on Sexual Equality of People’s Korea consisted of a total of 9 articles . Article 1 declared that “Women have equal rights to men economically, culturally, socially, and politically in all areas of life of the nation”. Thus for the first time in history Korean women became equal with men. Korean women also gained the right to vote . In capitalist countries which style themselves as “democratic “ , it took a long time for electoral voting rights to be extended to women for example in the UK women did not get full voting rights until 1928 ,some 10 years after men but in People’s Korea women had the right to vote from the beginning .
Similarly , Article 3 of the Law on Sexual Equality also granted Korean women the right to equal pay . This was 24 years before the equal pay act in the UK . In fact despite equal pay legalisation in the UK , the gender pay gap still remains .
Significantly the law abolished all Japanese imperial laws and regulations concerning women . Korean women had suffered horrendously under Japanese imperialist rule under which they not only faced feudal oppression but were subjected to criminal ill treatment by the Japanese imperialists .The Japanese imperialists subjected over 200,000 Korean women to sexual slavery , an unspeakable crime which degraded them and subjected them to a fate worse than death. To this very day there has been no proper apology or atonement from Japan for this crime.
The Law on Sexual Equality forbade polygamy and the sale of wives and concubines . It abolished prostitution something that capitalist countries have failed to do and in fact during past decades the sex and prostitution industries have greatly expanded in the capitalist countries . Symbolic of this is the scandal around Jeffrey Epstein, the American capitalist financier who forced many young women and even children into prostitution and trafficked them . Today in the DPRK there is no prostitution , no pornography and no sex industry that blights the lives of women and creates toxicity and decadence in society.
Later the equality of women in the DPRK was enshrined in the constitution of the DPRK and many other laws to enhance the position of women were passed.
Today in the DPRK women hold important positions such as factory director and also deputies to People’s Assemblies at different levels.
Some may point that Western countries also have gender equality legalisation but these are just just bits of paper with no real meaning . In People’s Korea legalisation is fully backed by practical measures such as the provision of free childcare as well as a healthy ethos of valuing women. Korean women have enjoyed 80 years of Juche-based socialist women’s liberation.
Dr Dermot Hudson
Chairman Korean Friendship Association UK
Chairman British Group For the Study of the Juche Idea
Hon Secretary General Global Farmy for the Study of KIM JONG UN People’s First Policies
No comments:
Post a Comment